Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify how undergraduate engineering students differ in their perception about software services companies in India based on variables like gender, locations of the college and branches of engineering. Design/methodology/approach: Data obtained from 560 undergraduate engineering students who had the opportunity to have multiple job offers from four major Indian software services companies through campus recruitment drives were analyzed. Chi-square test, cross tabulation and multi-nominal regressions were performed to test hypotheses. Findings: Decisions of engineering students with respect to their first-career choice are mostly influenced by intrinsic reasons than extrinsic or interpersonal reasons. While male students are greatly influenced by intrinsic reasons, female students are more influenced by extrinsic reasons. Students belonging to different locations and different branches of engineering have varying reasons for accepting a job offer. Research limitations/implications: Findings of this paper cannot be generalized as it involves students from only three engineering colleges in south India. A survey involving students from different strata across India would enable scholars to capture more insight into the perceptions of engineering students towards the Indian software services industry. Practical implications: Knowledge about the perceptions of engineering graduates towards software services companies in India based on gender, location of the college and the branch of engineering to which students belong, can help human resource managers, entrepreneurs in software services industry and career counselors to strategize human resource practices. Originality/value: Many studies have been conducted to identify what employers expect from engineering graduates whereas there is a dearth of articles that investigate perceptions of engineering students with respect to their first-career choice. This study conducts this bottom-up approach wherein different expectations of prospective employees are analysed. (Contains 8 tables.)